Comments

Craig Olson commented
2011-12-07 11:46:02 -0600

My son was abused by an Evangelical Alliance Missionary in Japan. The mission denied the incident. When I produced three other victims, they finally agreed to a mediation session. When the mediator asked if they would be willing to consider making restitution for only ten thousand dollars of the hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical and boarding school expenses their malfeasance cost me, they flat refused. Here is what they said:

“âHi Craig,
Here at TEAM we have carefully considered and discussed the matter of your request that we make a payment to you as a means to bring to a closure your ongoing dissent with TEAM because of the wrongful actions of Phil Fondaw. Along with you, we truly abhor the evil that was done by Phil in Japan and grieve for those children â¦who were abused by himâincluding your son. At the end of our deliberations, however, we have decided to not make a payment to you. We really believe that TEAM is not the party that wronged you and the other victims of Phil, rather it is Phil himself whom you need to address.

Sincerely,

TEAM Director of Operations"

I sought everywhere for someone to hold them accountable. Pastors refused to respond to my appeals. There were professional standards of conduct, and no agencies, licensing or accreditation bureaus with jurisdiction. In short, I had nowhere to go. This is the problem with the church — they have less accountability than almost any secular organization.